iOS 5 and iCloud coming October 12

Apple has added some more information on its next version of the iOS, …

Apple announced today that the next major upgrade to its mobile operating system, iOS 5, will be available on October 12. Users of most recent iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models with be able to upgrade at no charge, though users of the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and early iPod touch models will be stuck on iOS 4 from here on out.

Apple SVP of Software Engineering Scott Forstall described some of iOS 5's new features, such as the improved Notification system, location-based Reminders, and long-requested improvements to the included Camera application. iOS 5 will also include a new device-to-device messaging system called iMessage. Forstall confirmed that iMessage will work over WiFi and 3G connections, so it could replace costly texting plans for users that primarily communicate with iOS users.

Most important, perhaps, is iOS 5's compatibility with Apple's new iCloud service. iOS 5 syncs a variety of data between compatible Macs and Windows PCs as well as any registered iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. With iCloud, apps, music, photos, videos, iWork documents, and other data are kept in sync automatically between devices registered with the same Apple ID. iCloud will also power Apple's $24.99 per year iTunes Match service, which keeps a copy of your entire iTunes library, up to 25,000 tracks, in the cloud for access from any registered device.

Apple SVP of Internet Services Eddy Cue was on hand to detail iCloud. He revealed one new feature that has been rumored but not previously announced: Find My Friends. Users can set up impromptu meeting places using GPS coordinates, and other users can use Find My Friends to find the location and time to meet up.

Both iOS 5 and iCloud are free upgrades for existing iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, and 3rd and 4th-gen iPod touch users, and will both be available October 12. iTunes Match with launch at the end of the month in the US.

There is really nothing about that new 4S that would make me want to run and buy it. Maybe after a while there will be some interesting apps that take advantage of the new, faster hardware, but for the time being it seems that I will stick with iPhone 4.Most of the interesting updates are really in the iOS5.

So, Sprint will probably sell the crap out of iCloud for iPhone since they're running an unlimited data plan. For everyone else, I can't see iCloud as that great an idea if I'm going to end up having to pay my provider to listen to/view my own files over the web. I still want more than 64GB, Apple, or at least away to expand storage.

So underwhelming that Apple won't be make them fast enough to keep up with demand.

cadence wrote:

Overall, underwhelming.

Not to feed the troll, but I fail to see how future sales indicate that this was not an underwhelming event/announcement. Most of yesterday's iPhone5 hype turned out to be false, and no surprises have been offered. Therefore today was a big disappointment.

Starbucks will sell lots of coffee next year, but that doesn't make it's last earnings report anything less than underwhelming.

That Notification Center looks awfully familiar. Oh wait, that's right -- I had this on my first Android phone, years ago.

The Siri stuff looks cool, wonder how that'll work on my iPad 2.

I also find it interesting that they're beginning to mention specs more than they used to. It used to be that the only description was "it just works" and that hard numbers didn't matter. Now they're talking data transfer speeds, camera shot times, etc. Although he did say "not that any of that matters" right after making a big point that it did.

So underwhelming that Apple won't be make them fast enough to keep up with demand.

cadence wrote:

Overall, underwhelming.

Not to feed the troll, but I fail to see how future sales indicate that this was not an underwhelming event/announcement. Most of yesterday's iPhone5 hype turned out to be false, and no surprises have been offered. Therefore today was a big disappointment.

Starbucks will sell lots of coffee next year, but that doesn't make it's last earnings report anything less than underwhelming.

But it's underwhelming and disappointing in the same way that techies are continually disappointed that Apple doesn't offer an xMac. The phone's a lot faster, has a better camera and assistant capability that they feel is a big deal (though obviously, everybody else is still dubious about).

What are people disappointed about? No 4inch screen (harder to work with one hand for most people, more battery drain, not "retina")? No 4G/LTE (no low energy chipsets and weak deployment worldwide)? No option to dual-boot with WebOS/Android/Windows?

Apple's big thing for the coming years is that all their products (of which they customers usually own 2-3 of) will sync together with no effort. I'd guess they put more effort into that than the stuff people are complaining about not being addressed (NFC stuff next year to help iPad/iPhone communicate?).

I think sales are an excellent measure of how excited people are by a product. The iPhone 4 would have continued with strong sales even if Apple had not introduced the 4S. What Android phone model is selling 20 million units a quarter after its introduction? Is that what you would consider over-whelmed?

Reaperman2 wrote:

Not to feed the troll, but I fail to see how future sales indicate that this was not an underwhelming event/announcement. Most of yesterday's iPhone5 hype turned out to be false, and no surprises have been offered. Therefore today was a big disappointment.

Starbucks will sell lots of coffee next year, but that doesn't make it's last earnings report anything less than underwhelming.

So far, it is iPhone 4S only, though Apple describes Siri as a "beta" feature. We have asked what the limitations are, but we haven't heard back yet. My suspicion is that it requires a constant connection to servers for voice recognition (as rumored Nuance integration suggests) and it may require the A5 for suitable "realtime" preprocessing. If that is the case, it seems that 3G-equipped iPad 2s should also be compatible. One last limitation may be microphone quality—the iPhone 4/4S have a noise-canceling mic, the iPad 2 does not AFAICT.

Not to feed the troll, but I fail to see how future sales indicate that this was not an underwhelming event/announcement. Most of yesterday's iPhone5 hype turned out to be false, and no surprises have been offered. Therefore today was a big disappointment.

Well the poster was noting that even if it's "underwhelming", Apple will probably sell tons of them. This is a mirror image of what happened when the iPad 2 came out. People complained that it was just a thinner version of the original, with cameras stuck on it, and listed off all the things they were hoping it would have had, but didn't come with. Yet all indications are that it's sold substantially better than the original.

So basically: in weeks leading up to announcement, people go crazy with the rumors. Apple introduces a product that doesn't include half of those rumors. People scream about how it could hardly be considered an update, since X, Y, and Z weren't included. Apple releases the product to millions of people standing in line, and can't meet demand for months. Lather, rinse, repeat.

So underwhelming that Apple won't be make them fast enough to keep up with demand.

cadence wrote:

Overall, underwhelming.

Not to feed the troll, but I fail to see how future sales indicate that this was not an underwhelming event/announcement. Most of yesterday's iPhone5 hype turned out to be false, and no surprises have been offered. Therefore today was a big disappointment.

Starbucks will sell lots of coffee next year, but that doesn't make it's last earnings report anything less than underwhelming.

So it's Apple's fault that what they announced does not meet rumors? Rumors that they had nothing to do with? WTF???How about I start a rumor that the next round of Android phones will all come with a lifetime subscription to play any music and video you like from Amazon for free? Then it'll be Google's fault when the next rev of Android doesn't deliver this?

If IOS4 was anything to go by, I'm glad that they're excluding my iPhone 3G from being able to upgrade. The performance of IOS4 was abysmal on older devices. I hope that the 3GS owners don't have to go through the same pain with this new version.

If IOS4 was anything to go by, I'm glad that they're excluding my iPhone 3G from being able to upgrade. The performance of IOS4 was abysmal on older devices. I hope that the 3GS owners don't have to go through the same pain with this new version.

Not likely since the 3GS is not that much less powerful than the 4, and it's still being sold so there's a certain level of performance that Apple will need to maintain to avoid reflecting negatively on the brand.

I have a question about iCloud maybe someone can answer. If I have an iphone and my wife has an iphone can we have separate iCloud accts on our mac-mini in order to keep our files/pics/etc apart from each other?

This might be a silly question, but what exactly is the difference between iCloud and iTunes Match? iCloud syncs everything, but iTunes Match syncs only music, but for a fee? Perhaps I'm missing something base here...

The Find-my-friends thing sounds similar to Google Latitude -- although Latitude just lets you do checkins and see where friends are, not specifically arrange meetups. I've mostly just used it when I do trips with friends and we split up while in the same city.

This might be a silly question, but what exactly is the difference between iCloud and iTunes Match? iCloud syncs everything, but iTunes Match syncs only music, but for a fee? Perhaps I'm missing something base here...

iCloud syncs only the music and videos you bought on iTunes plus photos and documents. iTunes Match syncs songs you "purchased" elsewhere, but have in your iTunes library.

I have a question about iCloud maybe someone can answer. If I have an iphone and my wife has an iphone can we have separate iCloud accts on our mac-mini in order to keep our files/pics/etc apart from each other?

It's tied to your Apple ID, so if you have two separate user accounts on your Mac Mini, you're good to go.

Similar to Josh101prf's question, but the other way round - my wife & I share some apps by having synced each other's phones to each of our iTunes accounts (TomTom sat nav, some bird ID guides, in the same way that we would if we'd bought a road atlas or the paper books). Will iOS5 / iCloud allow us to continue doing this, e.g. by logging in as each other?Ta

Similar to Josh101prf's question, but the other way round - my wife & I share some apps by having synced each other's phones to each of our iTunes accounts (TomTom sat nav, some bird ID guides, in the same way that we would if we'd bought a road atlas or the paper books). Will iOS5 / iCloud allow us to continue doing this, e.g. by logging in as each other?Ta

App restrictions aren't changing: If you're both syncing to the same Apple ID, then both devices will have access to the same apps, just as my iPad and iPhone do. Each device is locked to one Apple ID (unless there's a way round this that I'm not aware of).

Up to 5 devices (iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touches) are allowed to be linked to the same Apple ID, I believe. It may be 10 now.

I think everyone was hoping that Apple could deliver a knockout new design that would make them want to run out and get one. This feeling was more in the spirit of "entertain me" than in any specific lack that the current 4 phone has. But for whatever reason a radical new design wasn't ready, so we get a nice upgrade. An upgrade that addresses the main things that we really use the phone for: a better antenna for faster data and better calls, a better camera, and a faster processor for games.

As a 3gs owner I'll be getting one as soon as I can.

I think we have to accept the fact that the smart-phone category is starting to fully mature, and that breakthrough products likely won't be coming along with any frequency. However, the iCloud service has the potential to cement the post-PC age, where we use simple lightweight apps on a variety of pads, pods, and phones connected to the internet and we don't worry much about where our data lives, it just shows up when we need it.

Each device is locked to one Apple ID (unless there's a way round this that I'm not aware of).

Not true. I have two Apple IDs and apps from each on my phone right now. The key is that the computer that the device is synced to must be linked to the Apple ID. The limitations are on the computer, not the device.

Quote:

Up to 5 devices (iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touches) are allowed to be linked to the same Apple ID, I believe. It may be 10 now.

Up to 5 computers can be linked to one Apple ID. The number of devices that can be synced to those 5 computers is unlimited.

Extremely excited about getting iOS 5 on iPod Touch and iPad but also very dissatisfied at the many folk who are slating the 4S. Apple never promised anyone an iPhone 5. This is the result of people getting hyped up too much in the rumours and speculation that people spread. Personally, I think that 4S is a natural evolutionary step and leads the field with Siri. 6 months from now, all smartphones will be trying to get you to talk to them. Now, back to business and hurry up Oct 12th.

Each device is locked to one Apple ID (unless there's a way round this that I'm not aware of).

Not true. I have two Apple IDs and apps from each on my phone right now. The key is that the computer that the device is synced to must be linked to the Apple ID. The limitations are on the computer, not the device.

Interesting. Can you elaborate on this or link me to something that explains? As I understand it, each device can sync with only one iTunes "account", and I can't see anywhere to alter my Apple ID on-device, so I can't see how this would work.

Invid wrote:

Quote:

Up to 5 devices (iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touches) are allowed to be linked to the same Apple ID, I believe. It may be 10 now.

Up to 5 computers can be linked to one Apple ID. The number of devices that can be synced to those 5 computers is unlimited.

My mistake. I knew about the computer limitation, but I think I was recalling the rules on DRMed media rather than apps.